Fraud Education and Prevention Articles

When Cybercrime Shows Up ‘In Real Life’

Aug 28, 2026

When 76-year-old Barry Heitin, a retired lawyer, put a total of $416,000 worth of gold into a vehicle that visited his apartment three times, he knew the scenario was unbelievable enough to resemble a movie.

"It seemed very James Bond-ish," he told The New York Times in 2024.1

Heitin believed he was participating in a government investigation, helping federal officers protect his money as they tracked down criminals who were trying to steal it. When a real car showed up, just as the "investigator" on the phone said it would, didn't that validate the caller's claim?

With so much financial fraud taking place online, in real life (IRL), interactions can give consumers a false sense of safety. And while move-your-money scams like the one that ultimately drained Heitin of $740,000 are prevalent, other frauds that combine cybercrime and in-person interactions exist, too.

Here's what everyone should know to help protect themselves against bold scammers who step into a victim's life to steal from them:


Move-Your-Money Scams

In 2024, the FBI received just 525 reports of gold courier scams, but with an eye-popping $219 million in associated losses.2 That makes an average loss of more than $400,000 for each reported scam. Gold courier scams like the one that ensnared Heitin are move-your-money scams — a fraud that convinces a victim to withdraw money from their own accounts and hand it directly to a criminal.

They don't always involve gold. A financial advice columnist for The Cut shared her experience, placing $50,000 in cash into a shoebox and leaving it in an unknown Mercedes SUV outside her apartment.3 The scam had started online with suspicious activity on her Amazon account.

While move-your-money scams take many forms (including those that don't use human interactions, like crypto ATM scams), most typically work this way:4

  • The victim receives outreach via phone, email, or text about suspicious activity on a financial or e-commerce account.

  • The supposed company employee or government investigator tells the victim that their money is at risk of being stolen or that it is needed as evidence of a crime. To protect themselves or to help the investigation, the scammer asks the victim to cooperate with a series of requests.

  • These requests can begin small and then get quite elaborate. Some victims report weeks of updates from the so-called investigator and friendly phone calls. Among these communications, requests to withdraw money begin.

  • The scammer asks the victim to get the money to them. These most brazen frauds arrange an in-person exchange. It can be in cash or in gold after conversion.

  • The scam becomes more elaborate as the bad actor asks for more money or gold. After the scammer senses the victim is unwilling to hand over any more, they disappear.
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In 2024, the FBI received 525 reports of gold courier scams with $219 million in losses — an average of just a little more than $400,000 for each scam.

How can people get duped into handing their life savings to a stranger?

The psychology of these "authorized fraud" scams — in which the victims authorize the withdrawals themselves — is powerful. Reflecting on her own experience as a scam victim, Harvard psychology professor Dr. Patricia Harney explained why.5, 6 Criminals create anxiety and urgency with a story that makes the victim feel unsafe — and then offers an immediate solution.

"Anxiety is all about the response to a threat," Harney said in 2024. "When you feel unsafe, the immediate instinct is to do whatever you can to feel safer."


Other Scams That Show Up IRL

While move-your-money scams may be the cyber-to-IRL scam of the moment, it's not the only type that combines online savvy and in-person pressure to trick victims. Others include:

EMV Chip/Courier Scam:7 A victim receives a phone call, supposedly from their bank, saying there is a security issue with their account related to the victim's debit card. If the victim agrees to go along with the scheme, the scammer sends a "courier" to the victim's home, who takes the victim's debit card with them. They may even cut it in half in front of the victim to pretend they've disabled it, but all the scammer needs is the EMV chip to hack into later.

Door-to-door Disaster Relief Fraud: This fraud begins in person and can then escalate into cybercrime. After extreme weather damages homes in an area, scammers go door-to-door impersonating utility workers, federal employees and contractors offering services. While some may scam money outright, others will ask for information only — financial account info or sensitive personal data — that they will use to commit online financial fraud or identity theft.

Package Brushing Scam: In these scams, there's not an IRL person, but a package. It's hard to see the scam but brushing scammers send strangers packages after breaking into their online marketplace account so they can post a verified review for the item — which they are associated with in some way. Because the fraudster now has the victim's personal information, the person who received the package is also at risk of becoming a victim of identity theft.

Work-from-Home Reshipping Scam: This is another one where the victim interacts with IRL things rather than people. A scammer will "employ" victims to receive packages at their home to repackage and ship elsewhere. But after doing this for some time, the paycheck doesn't arrive and the "employer" disappears. This is a reshipping scam, where scammers outsource the handling of stolen goods to unknowing victims.


Protect Yourself From IRL Cybercrime

As the scams above illustrate, if something looks fishy online or over the phone, the appearance of a courier, package, or other person appearing at your front door does not verify anything. The scams above are very different in nature, so each has its own red flags to watch for. As move-your-money scams are on the rise, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers these tips to consumers to avoid them:8

If you believe you've been a victim, also report the incident to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center,10 and follow the steps in our article, "What to Do if You Are a Victim of Fraud."

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Important disclosure information

This content is general in nature and does not constitute legal, tax, accounting, financial or investment advice. You are encouraged to consult with competent legal, tax, accounting, financial or investment professionals based on your specific circumstances. We do not make any warranties as to accuracy or completeness of this information, do not endorse any third-party companies, products, or services described here, and take no liability for your use of this information.

  1. Tara Siegel Bernard, "How One Man Lost $740,000 to Scammers Targeting His Retirement Savings," The New York Times, published July 29, 2024. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  2. Federal Bureau of Investigation, "FBI 2024 Internet Crime Complaint Center Report," FBI, published May 2025. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  3. Charlotte Cowles, "The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It To a Stranger," The Cut, published Feb. 15, 2024. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  4. Alvaro Puig, "Did someone tell you to move or transfer your money? It could be a scam," Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice, published January 19, 2024. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  5. Psychology Today, "Patricia Harney Ph.D., About," accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  6. Sanjay Salomon, "The Psychological Impact of Scams," Feedzai, published May 8, 2024. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  7. Matt Alderton, "Chip Card Scam Turns Security Feature Into Security Risk," AARP, published October 11, 2024. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  8. Jennifer Leach, "Never move your money to 'protect it.' That’s a scam," Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice, published March 5, 2024. Accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  9. "Reportfraud.ftc.gov," accessed August 20, 2026. Back
  10. FBI, "File a Complaint," Internet Crime Complaint Center, accessed August 19, 2026. Back